Spending on Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance to Reach $6.2B AMR Research today announced that companies will spend more than $32B on governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) in 2008—an increase of 7.4% over 2007. Spending on Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance is expected to grow only 2% to $6.2B. For the first time since AMR Research began conducting this study in 2003, executives have shifted their GRC budget focus to operational and enterprise risk management—making SOX and other regulatory compliance programs a necessary “to-do,” but not a top-of-mind initiative. 31% of companies reported that better managing and mitigating risk in the business is the most influential issue driving their GRC investment in 2008. “In this economic climate, companies can no longer focus solely on reactive spending to meet each new regulation,” explains John Hagerty, vice president and research fellow at AMR Research. “As executives are becoming aware of how different business and IT risks affect their bottom line, their spending focus is shifting toward approaching risk strategically, not just tactically.” For the last few years, GRC services numbers have been decreasing as companies streamlined compliance activities, but as risk rises in importance, companies report they want and need guidance on how to frame the risk discussion in a business context. Thus, GRC initiatives remain an intensely human effort. Two-thirds of budgets (approximately $21.5B) are earmarked for people-related expenses (services plus head count) in 2008. 424 IT and line-of-business leaders across all industry sectors in the United States, Germany, and Japan were surveyed for the “Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance Report, 2008-2009.” For more information about this report, please visit www.amrresearch.com or call (617) 542-6600. About AMR Research: Research and Advice that Matter: AMR Research is the No. 1 research firm focused on the intersection of business processes with value chain and enterprise technologies. Founded in 1986, AMR Research provides subscription advisory services and peer networking opportunities to operations and IT executives in the consumer products, life sciences, manufacturing, and retail sectors. To learn more about our research and services, visit www.amrresearch.com.
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